Europeans wary of new Italy government
Print Edition
FEARS of a new European crisis grew yesterday over Italy’s incoming euroskeptic government, which has vowed to reject the Brussels austerity diet and to crack down on immigrants.
Governments and markets have suddenly become unsettled as the prospect of populists taking the helm of the European Union’s fourth-biggest economy suddenly becomes a reality after months of deadlock.
A period when the rest of the world seemed to be in denial finally seemed to be over as Italy’s president was tasked yesterday on whether to approve little-known lawyer Giuseppe Conte as prime minister.
The anti-establishment Five Star Movement and the anti-immigrant League — together the EU’s worst nightmare — put his name forward to represent the biggest winners from March’s election.
“There are some things there that are worrying, yes,” EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom said in Brussels yesterday when asked about the Italian situation.
Fear No. 1 is that Italy, a founder member of both the EU and the euro, is set to irk financial markets and trigger a new eurozone crisis by refusing to stick to public spending and debt targets set by Brussels.
The bloc’s enforcer for the euro, European Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis, issued a tough public warning to the incoming Italian administration to pursue a “responsible” budget policy.
“We view it as important that the Italian government remains on course in pursuing a responsible budget policy,” Dombrovskis told the German business daily Handelsblatt.
The no-nonsense Latvian noted that Italy has the second-highest level of state debt after Greece, explaining why Brussels is anxious that Rome continues to follow the EU rules.
Dombrovskis noted that the coalition’s plan to drastically slash taxes and reverse pension cuts will be costly.
“We can only advise it to stay on course in terms of economic and fiscal policies, to stimulate growth through structural reforms and to keep the budget deficit under control,” said Dombrovskis.
French Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire meanwhile warned on Sunday that the “financial stability of the eurozone will be threatened” if Italy “takes the risk of not respecting its commitments on debt and the deficit.”
The Frenchman also warned Italy still had to clean up its debt-laden banks, whose health has long been a worry for the eurozone.
The specter of Greece hovers over everything, with memories still fresh of how the leftist Syriza government brought the country to the brink of a Grexit from the euro in 2015 with similar vows to resist EU austerity — although in that case Athens finally backed down.
The fears growing in Europe are not just linked to the economy, however.
Alarm is also rising about the success of Five Star’s anti-EU platform and the anti-immigrant stance of the League.
They have revived fears in Brussels and other capitals that Europe has failed to roll back the wave of right-wing populism that sparked the 2016 Brexit vote as successfully as first thought.
Those fears had been sidelined after the Europe-loving French President Emmanuel Macron beat far-right candidate Marine Le Pen in elections last year, but now the specter has returned.
European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker warned ahead of the Italian elections that a victory for them would be a “worst-case” scenario.
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